18 Section 17: Unknown Danger

-Ender side-

I found Aria on the ground, fire started to circle her fainted body the other day. After that, I was separated from her, chased by some crazy drones.

Next, I found that nice hideout in that abandoned post office, although the sudden rise in the drone number made me leave that place. I finally could get some sleep in that mini-market storage room near that love hotel. The floor was so cold, I wish I had a nice bed.

In the morning though, a yell woke me up. The sound of a Gatling gun made me nervous. Later then I found that man, whoever he is. The glasses guy that's been with Aria, bugged me off for some reason. In some miraculous coincidence, I finally found Aria in that apartment complex because of a scream.

Aria is in pain and the glasses guy just widened his eyes to Aria, he didn't help her. He didn't calm her. Although, Aria herself was also to blame. She just killed an innocent woman in front of her partner, I would be surprised as well.

However, that man, whoever he is. I dislike his indecisiveness. The glasses guy who put Aria in danger and didn't even budge to help her. He's fishy, and I need to keep an eye on him. I already dispatched my drone to keep an eye on that stranger who pretends to be Aria's friend. The drone will alert my cell phone if he's doing something nasty.

I returned to the weapon shop where we hid earlier, looking at that idiot who's clinging for Aria for survival irritates me. Moreover, he's Aria's crush that's just great. Aria always picks a bad man for a crush, her kindness is always being used.

That's what I thought about that glasses man, he's just disturbing. I browsed through the weapon shop, hoping to land myself a niche weapon. I caught a glimpse of a nice crossbow on the floor.

The glasses in the shop already shattered, dead bodies around here, nothing new. It's just how it is right now. I kneeled and grabbed the exquisite looking crossbow on the floor.

The flashy purple color makes the bow look magnificent. The medium size crossbow is perfect for me, it's not that heavy. What's good about crossbows is that they use arrows. Unlike guns, where you shoot your bullets then the bullets are no longer usable, used arrows are usable for the long term.

Crossbows also have less noise than guns, so I can avoid attention. I have to find a nice weapon for Aria and that glasses man. Aria seems like a person who likes punching and breaking stuff up close, or maybe because that's the only weapon she had? Then again, she's always quite hot-headed.

"Alright, this military knife is good for her" I picked a military knife from the glasses cabinet. Next to the cabinet is a dying old man. I think he's still breathing, but he's losing lots of blood. His breath is raspy and breathless. I saw a handgun in his grasp, I think it's a Glock. My experience in playing lots of first-person shooter games makes me a gun maniac, and I can say the same to Aria as well.

That girl might lose her cool if she sees the guns and crazy equipment inside this shop. I was about to take it from the old man, but he keeps grabbing it.

"Young man, please save me" he begged.

I looked at the old man, his white hairs indicated that maybe he's around sixty. He's slender built but muscular. Maybe he's an ex-military? Not that I'm good at guessing games though. This old man is beyond saving, he's extremely pained by the wounds on his chest. It keeps gushing out, he's no longer alive.

"Don't worry" I smiled. "I can end your suffering now" I pointed my newfound crossbow at him.

His eyes looked terrified as I pointed that crossbow, I giggled at his reaction. He looks at me funnily.

"Joking, but you're beyond saving" I put down my crossbow. "I had to say I'm tempted to end your suffering though".

The old man zipped his mouth in fear, he's looking at me like I'm some sort of monster. I was right about his condition though? That he's beyond saving. I'm not sure why he's upset about the fact I'm right. I picked up the crossbow and the knife, now I don't know about that glasses man.

He seems like the type of person who's afraid of close combat, maybe that handgun can do the trick. I might ask the dying old man for a gun in exchange for a first aid kit, although that's the same as giving him false hope. However, there's no harm in negotiating it for additional firearms. Although, when I was about to ask the old man I heard someone talking from a distance.

"Please, help" the old man raised his voice to be noticed.

"Crap!" I clicked my tongue.

I looked around me for a hiding spot, I can't let myself be seen for now. I don't know whether they are good people anyway, so I might as well look from the shadows. I saw an opened window to the backside of the shop, that might do a trick. I climbed the windowsill and hid below the window.

I'm not confident with my hiding spot, I'm still outside after all. Next to me is a skunky trash can, I barely could smell anything other than that skunky smell. A few minutes later, I heard footsteps inside the shop. According to the footsteps, I think there are around three or two people inside.

I heard two of them laughing, one is a woman's voice and the other is a man.

"Hey look! We found ourselves a nice gun shop! Boss will be happy to see this" the man's voice shrills in excitement.

"You're right, we can equip our troops with these weapon stashes" the female voice is very princess-like. "We need to go back to the headquarters though, we need more people to move these weapons".

After the two of them talking to each other, I heard a male voice, a timid one it seems. His voice is small, I barely could hear what he's saying.

"How about the old man? He's injured, let's help him".

They didn't speak for a long time and the shrill male one replied.

"Adrian, come on now! We already have our hands full with our crews, we can't add an injured man in there" from the tone of it the shrill-voiced male might be an adult. His sense of superiority to the timid Adrian proves that that man is a piece of work.

"Adrian, you wouldn't want you and your friend Glass starved, right?" the woman emphasized the word 'starved'. "There's nothing much left in the market, all we can eat is canned food now".

What she said was true, Alpha City is surrounded by walls from the outer part of the city. Since the enemy gained control of the security system and breached the government, I'm sure that no one can escape Alpha City.

No matter how luxurious and techy Alpha City is, without wildlife animals around it's difficult. People have to scrape canned food or at least prone to steal from others.

There are raw ingredients in the market, not sure that it's edible by now if the electricity already runs out. Some lucky places had backup generators, the attack happened a few days ago, I didn't dare to count how many people have lost their lives because of the drones. All of a sudden the old man begged his life, he sobbed pitifully to the three of them.

"Please help me! This is my shop! I can give you all of my weapons! Save me!" he coughed.

That man is doomed, he couldn't be saved.

"Please, Milla! Tom! Let's save him!" the timid Adrian begged his teammates.

However, the old man was welcomed with the sound of a stab, I didn't know what happened since I haven't peeked inside. I tried to peek in and found the old man was stabbed on his head by the woman.

The old man stopped breathing, his skull has been penetrated with a screwdriver. Adrian gasped at the sight of the lifeless old man.

"As I said, he's already dead!" that princess-like woman snickered. "Adrian, don't make me kill him! Now look at what you've done!".

Milla twirled her curly blonde hair needily like she's addicted to the sensation of stabbing.

"What the heck? Are they crazy?" I thought nervously.

"Wow, sadistic as always Milla! Great job!" Tom whistled.

I stopped peeking inside, whoever they are I need to avoid them at all costs. I don't even want to know their boss at this point.

"Adrian, let's just go back and report the boss! We need to salvage this place in and out" Milla added.

It seems like they're currently taking all the weapons they could carry, I guess they're also taking that old man gun. I'm not sure whether their headquarters are far, but I might be able to find more weapons in the storage room. I remembered that there's a back door inside the shop.

"Alright, gotta go fast" I encouraged myself as I bravely sneaked inside.